Task Force Publishes Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty

WASHINGTON-Today, the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias published a report detailing how the Biden Administration's prosecutions, policies, and practices demonstrated anti-Christian bias throughout the federal government, in accordance with Executive Order 14202. The Acting Attorney General serves as Chair of the Task Force, and the Justice Department coordinated this significant interagency effort.

"No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Chair of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. "As our report lays out, the Biden Administration's actions devastated the lives of many Christian Americans. That devastation ended with President Trump. The Department of Justice will continue to expose bad actors who targeted Christians and work tirelessly to restore religious liberty for all Americans of faith."

The 200-page report collects the detailed findings of the seventeen federal agencies on the Task Force, as well as other agencies who also uncovered religious discrimination. The report examines how the Biden Administration pushed its radical policy agenda, even when its actions infringed on Christian beliefs, free exercise, and on matters of deep personal importance to nearly every American: life, family, marriage, self-identity, education, medical decisions, and more. To support these findings, the Report contains over 1100 footnotes and over 300 pages of exhibits.

In creating its portions of the report, the Justice Department conducted a thorough review of internal discussions, case files, and prosecutorial decisions, some of which are detailed in the recent report published by the Weaponization Working Group about the FACE Act. The Justice Department met with and received information from over 100 stakeholders and victims in its review of the impacts of the Biden Administration's anti-Christian bias.

The report touches on a broad array of federal policies and programs, including conscience rights, the Johnson Amendment, fines against Christian universities, girls' sports, vaccine mandates, and the exclusion of Christians from public programs, among many others. The Task Force also highlights related findings at the state and local level and in the private sector. Among the many findings, the Justice Department discovered:

• President Biden pushed policies to eliminate statutory protections for religious Americans that interfered with his policy goals. Although he failed to change federal law, under his direction, federal agencies used policy and regulatory means to accomplish the same goals.
• The Biden Justice Department aggressively opposed concerned parents through the Garland School Board Memo and diligently attempted to use its enforcement authority against parents who defended their children's safety at local school board meetings.
• The Biden Justice Department immediately mandated the adoption of gender ideology throughout the federal government far beyond the Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County.
  • The day after Biden was sworn into office, career employees at the Justice Department urged for the reversal of a Trump Justice Department memo on Bostock that directed the department to "respect its employees' right to express traditional views" regarding marriage and gender identity.
  • Career employees called the memo "an affront to the dignity of our transgender employees," and called for the memo to be rescinded under Biden's Executive Order on gender ideology.
  • The Biden Justice Department also considered requests for religious exemptions related to gender ideology as harmful conduct to be regulated and consistently pushed its incorrect Bostock interpretation in amicus briefs, even though federal courts repeatedly rejected it.
• The Biden Justice Department advised White House and senior leadership in a phone call that federal employees' religious objections to the Covid vaccines were "insincere" or "not religious."
• The Civil Rights Division under President Biden sidelined Christians in favor of preferred constituencies. It published materials suggesting that Christians could not be victims of religious discrimination, only other faith groups.

While this report details the egregious actions of the Biden Administration against Christians, it also demonstrates how the Trump Administration is restoring the rights of Christians-and all Americans-to practice their faith without fear of retribution.

• The Trump Justice Department is protecting parental rights by rescinding the Garland Memo and taking legal actions to protect students, including a lawsuit to stop the Loudoun County School District from unlawfully forcing gender ideology on students who have sincerely held religious beliefs on marriage and human sexuality.
• The Trump Justice Department has restored law and order by rescinding the Biden Bostock As a result, all people of faith may once again freely exercise their faith.
• The Trump Justice Department is protecting religious liberty in the federal workplace by issuing an Office of Legal Counsel opinion affirming religious liberty protections for federal employees, which include accommodation requests.
• The Trump Justice Department is ending the weaponization of the FACE Act by protecting houses of worship from violence and threats under the FACE Act.
• The Trump Justice Department is protecting religious congregations from discrimination under RLUIPA.
  • The Civil Rights Division has filed statements of interest supporting faith communities in RLUIPA cases across the country.

The Department of Justice is committed to religious liberty for all and will continue to support President Trump's mandate to eradicate anti-Christian bias throughout the federal government.